Channel 4’s top executives were paid maximum bonuses with its chief executive pocketing £855,000 last year – almost double the pay of BBC director general Tony Hall – despite the broadcaster’s main channel dropping to its lowest-ever share of TV viewers.
David Abraham, the Channel 4 chief executive, received £855,000 in total remuneration last year, including a £166,000 bonus, a 15.6% increase on 2013 and almost double the £450,000 received by Hall.
The BBC, which receives almost £4bn in income to spend on running its TV, radio and online services, is considerably larger than Channel 4, which makes about £1bn in revenues annually.
“Both culturally and financially Channel 4 continues to punch above its weight and make a huge contribution to the creative sector at no cost to the UK taxpayer,” said Abraham.
The broadcaster’s total pay and bonus bill hit £2.35m for its top four executives, who include chief creative officer Jay Hunt, sales chief Jonathan Allan and Dan Brooke, chief marketing and communications officer.
Hunt, the second highest-paid executive at Channel 4, received total remuneration of £581,000, including a £123,000 bonus, up 17% from the previous year.
Both Abraham and Hunt received the maximum possible bonus, capped at 30% of their salary.
A total of £478,000 was paid out in bonuses, more than double the £221,000 paid out in 2013.
The payouts come despite Channel 4 reporting that viewing dropped last year, and that its TV ad sales underperformed the market.
Its flagship channel had a 5.9% share of total TV viewing last year, dropping below the previous low of 6% set in 1984, which then included Welsh-language channel S4C.
The broadcaster maintains that it is peak time that matters and that between 7pm and 11pm the main channel has remained flat.
Between 8pm and 9pm, share has risen to 6.56%, with 8.34% between 9pm and 10pm, thanks to shows including Bear Grylls’ The Island, Benefits Street and The Undateables.
The broadcaster broke a two-year run of losses, which were “planned deficits” to invest in the business, making a small profit of £4m last year.
“As a not-for-profit organisation Channel 4 plays a unique role as both a creative greenhouse for the UK and a major contributor to the creative economy,” said the Channel 4 chairman, Lord Burns.
“The annual report demonstrate[s] that Channel 4 is strongly delivering to its public service remit and is well positioned financially for a sustainable future.”
Channel 4 said that its total revenues, including TV ad sales and digital advertising, rose just over 3% to £938m.
This compares with the total UK TV market which grew 5.6% last year, and rival ITV, which increased its ad sales by 6.6%.
Channel 4’s TV ad sales operation, which sells across its own channels as well as BT Sport and UKTV’s portfolio, saw revenues rise just over 4% to £1.073bn.
Channel 4 spent £602m on content last year, marginally more than in 2013, with £430m of that on original programming.
Programming on the main channel totalled £492m, 82% of total spend, and digital channels including E4, More4 and Film4 cost £100m.
A further £8m was spent on digital media including Channel 4’s websites.
Drama spend fell by 13% to £100m following the cancellation of the long-running drama Shameless.
Factual programming was the biggest genre category with £169m of spend, up 10% year on year, with shows including The Taste, The Jump and Troy.
Channel 4 said that 11.3 million people have registered on its online platform, including 50% of all 16- to 34-year-olds.
